Ｐｒｉｖａｔｅ Ｅｎｔｅｒｐｒｉｓｅｓ Ｂｏｏｓｔ Ｆｏｒｅｉｇｎ Ｔｒａｄｅ

Nowadays， more and more private enterprises start internationalbusinesses. According to the Guangdong Department of Foreign Tradeand Economic Cooperation， iii the first 4 months of 2005， over 4100

private enterprises were registered tu conduct international trade， and92.4% of them were new export entel~orises.

Private enterprises are now playing an important role in Guangdong's for-eign-oriented economy.

Since China permitted private international trade enterprises in 1999， thenumber of private trading companies has increased from 459 to 31，000.

The total annual export value increased 187% from US$348 million toUS$35.85 billion， which is 10% of the total export value in Guangdong.

Private Exporters ReceiveHelp in Guangdong

Tbe government of Guangdongwill step up its support to ex-port-oriented private busi-nesses which play an increasing role inthe southern province's foreign tradeand overseas investment.

Tile number of domestic privatefirms with foreign trade licences hadgrown to 27，337 in Guangdong at theend of last year， since the sector wasopened up to those firms in 1999， saidLiang Yaowen， director of the Depart-ment of Foreign Trade and EconomicCo-operation of Guangdong.

They accounted for about 84%of domestic companies ofall types， witb foreign trade right inGuangdong and 29% of all those in thecountry at the end of last year， he said.

Imports and exports by private firmsvalued at US$35.85 billion last year -accounted for 10% of the total ofGuangdong. Exports by those firms roseagain by 63% to US$7.75 billion in thefirst foul' months of tbis year.

They made up 26% of the total by pri-vate companies nationwide.

Private firms in Guangdong beatState-owned companies in exportsthrough general trade for the first time lastyear， and accounted for about one thirdof such exports in the province.

Private companies havealso grown significantly in theirsize， with 18 exporting USS 100million worth of gonds orabove each last year.

Chinese household electricalappliances giant Midea Group，for example， posted an I 10% an-nualized growth in exports lastyear， which stood at US$ 1.05 bil-lion， said Li Jianwei， vice-presi-dent of the group.

The group expects its exports to in-crease by 45% year-on-year this year， hesaid.

Aiming to rank among theworld's top three in all its majorwhite goods， the company expects to have halfofitssales coming from expoets in the comingsufficient public services and enforce-ment of related policies for private firms.

Liang pledged better efficiency andsincere enforcement of related policiesto enhance fbreign-orSented operation ofprivate firms， calling also for a .jointworking meclbanism among various pro-vincial government agencies to tacklethe problems.